The Best Inca Trail Tours with Peru’s Trekking Experts

I recently did the 3-day Lares Trek combined with the Short Inca Trail, and it was amazing! As a solo female traveler, I felt completely safe and well cared for by the entire team. Our guides, Anthony and Gilbert, were fantastic—they’re both from the region, so their knowledge of the area, history, and culture was incredible. Their passion really brought the trek to life, and they spoke great English, which made everything easier. This trek was challenging but incredibly rewarding, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone, especially solo travellers. The guides and team made it a memorable and safe adventure that I’ll never forget.

In the words of our guide, Gary. "Hello my friends". This was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, trip. The organisation was smooth, with everything laid on from transportation, meals, tents etc. Gary was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, informative, indefatigable, amusing and generally great company. Ade was warm, energetic, supportive and led a great yoga session each morning that got us warmed up, shaking our booties and ready to attack the day. The food was incredible. What the team were able to rustle up in the middle of nowhere, cooking in the most basic conditions and with the most basic equipment, was mind-blowing. The porters were unbelievable, lugging 20-30kg packs with tables, chairs, tents, cookers, pots, pans, chemical toilet, food, etc., not to mention half of the paying clients' belongings as well. Not only that, but they were passing us on the track, steaming uphill and actually running downhill. The best we could manage was a slow plod, since the altitude made any slight uphill incline into a lung-busting challenge. Gary taught us that OMG actually means "oh my Gary". Anyway, to use another Gary saying, "best to go now before too bored"

We were six old friends with a tradition of travelling to combine excercise, food and the experience of new places. The Inca trail was the highlight this time, and I'm so happy we did this. The four days were filled with walking, sometimes relatively tough but manageable, talking and trying to grasp the views of the mountains and the archeological sites. It doesn't matter how beatiful pictures you see, the mountains and the sites, with Machu Picchu as the peak, are not possible to give justice to with a camera. You simply have to be there. The group was great, and we got to know each other more than I thought to begin with. There were always someone with the same pace during the trekking that you could talk with (or be silent with). The guides (Abelardo and Miguel) were very encouraging, caring, fun and shared loads of information about everything we saw and more. The chefs (headed by Zenobio) created magic, considering the conditions for the cooking. The food, and the moment of sitting down together with the food, was an essential part of the trek. All this would have been impossible without the porters, headed by Toribio, who are carrying everything except for what you need during the day. They are building and dismantling the camp every night and morning and take it to the next site with an incredible speed. All in all an experince for life!